Letters from our August 2018 issue

Barry Schiff’s recent article on IFR training by retired airline pilots makes a lot of sense. I wish my training had been so oriented.

About 10 to 15 percent of my flying was in real IFR. I admit that I was never really comfortable in the soup. Even though I could do well on practice approaches or holding patterns, I tried to avoid taxing situations. Learning from a real pro would have been helpful. I hope that retired airline pilots pick up on his suggestion.

Hugo Freudenthal
AOPA 306381
Dunedin, Florida

Barry Schiff makes some great points but doesn’t mention the main reason why experienced airline pilots, like myself, don’t flight instruct. Liability. I’d love to put my CFI certificate to use and give back to the GA community but the liability threat looms large.

Jeffrey Hicks
AOPA 1190531
Sussex, Wisconsin

WFFF

I enjoyed Julie Summers Walker’s “Will Fly For Food” article.

I’d like to offer a few mid-Atlantic suggestions:

• Sugar Buns, Easton/Newnam Field (ESN), Easton, Maryland.
• Blue Skies, Hampton Roads Executive Airtport (PVG), Norfolk, Virginia.
• Suffolk BBQ Co., Suffolk Executive Airport (SFQ), Suffolk, Virginia.
• The Virginia Diner, Wakefield Municipal Airport (AKQ), Wakefield, Virginia (they’ll come and pick you up, or it’s a 10-minute walk).
• Tangier Island Airport (TGI), Tangier Island, Virginia—multiple small places on the tiny island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.
• Stevensville Crab Shack, Ledo Pizza, Bay Bridge Airport (W29), Stevensville, Maryland.
• Kentmorr Airpark (3W3), Stevensville, Maryland (grass field).

Also, I’d like to suggest what many might consider a significant value-add/member benefit. Given the success of the new and improved flight planner, let’s add to its “tools” a drop-down menu with member-recommended airport restaurants along/near the line of flight. Similarly, a second selection of members’ recommended attractions along the proposed line of flight. I prize my old copies of AOPA’s Places To Fly books.

As you have demonstrated, the location and price of gas is important, but for many trips, it’s the fueling of the tummy that is the primary mission of the flight planning.

Alan L. Wagner
AOPA 746247
Virginia Beach, Virginia

Every Sunday morning a group of us fly somewhere for breakfast—as long as the weather is VFR. Here is the list of restaurants we fly to:

• Kay’s at the Airport, Cambridge-Dorchester Regional Airport (CGE), Cambridge, Maryland, lunch and breakfast.
• Robin’s Nest Café, Shannon Airport (EZF), Fredericksburg, Virginia, lunch.
• Arena’s at the Airport, Delaware Coastal Airport (GED), Georgetown, Delaware, lunch and breakfast.
• Pilot House and Eckards, Hummel Field (W75), Saluda, Virginia, great German food at Eckards for dinner.
• Bryce Resort, Sky Bryce Airport (VG18), Bayse, Virginia (some mountain flying).
• Lamplighter Restaurant and Lounge, Lake Country Regional Airport (W63), Clarksville, Virginia, they have two courtesy cars for a drive to the restaurant in town; call Mike, the airport manager, to get the keys to the cars.
• Kings Corner, Richmond Executive-Chesterfield County Airport (FCI), Richmond, Virginia, lunch during the week and dinner on Friday and Saturday night.
• Williamsburg-Jamestown Airport (JGG), Williamsburg, Virginia, lunch during the week.
• Fred’s Restaurant, Franklin Muni-John Beverly Rose Airport (FKN), Franklin, Virginia; they have a courtesy car for a drive to the restaurant in town.

Don Booth
AOPA 1042722
Fredericksburg, Virginia

For more suggestions, see “Pilot Briefing: Reader Response”.

In tribute

Pat Napolitano has been a mentor of mine over the past 10 years. He had become a great friend, confidante, and role model of how aviation is supposed to be approached.

He always pushed me to be better and better. He had a way of making me strive to do my very best. He would tell me to always be able to prove how I did something (in the aviation world, this meant making use of data and reference materials to back up work). Pat never made me feel stupid or inadequate, but encouraged me along. That made me want to make him proud of me; he always got excited when I performed well.

I remember well how much he valued his fiancée, Nichole. One occasion, he told me how he had “the prettiest girl in all the world” at a dance. 

What I learned from Pat’s example is that he cared about the success of others rather than himself. He did not do things to feed his ego, but delighted in doing well. He was driven to make his company, his customers, and others around him successful. His work was his passion and he resolved to meet high professional and personal standards.

I hope we can all strive to follow the legacy of excellence Pat displayed, in both the aviation world and our own personal lives.

Brian Lepkowski
High Point, North Carolina

Second guessing

Ray Carver’s article in the August AOPA Pilot came one day after I received a similar phone call regarding an aborted takeoff of my own. If there is anything sacred left to aviators, it should be that we can abort a takeoff or landing with no questions asked. If the FAA wants pilots to do the right thing when a takeoff or landing is suddenly questionable, then they need to back off and let us do our job. Why should a pilot ever have to think twice about aborting an unsafe situation just because the FAA might investigate?

Wayne McCready
AOPA 894429
Fairbanks, Alaska

Going places

I just finished Thomas B. Haines’ article in (“Waypoints: The Places You’ll Go”) and have been a member for 50 years or so, but always a bit frustrated at the lack of destination coverage.

Thank you for your recent inclusion of Travel Pilot, thereby greatly improving an already superb publication. In the infamous words of Tom Cruise “You complete me!”

Jim Conn
AOPA 675523
Alexandria, Minnesota

World’s shortest

Reading Julie Summers Walker’s “Pilot Briefing: Kellee Set Go!” in AOPA Pilot made me wonder if she was a little off in naming the runway at Saba Island the shortest commercial runway in the world.

Please take a look at the map of Helgoland Airport in Germany. You will note that the shortest runway—6/24—here is a mere 258 meters (846 feet) long. This is but one example of a commercial runway shorter than “the world’s shortest runway.”

Nevertheless, I continue to enjoy your magazine and salute your sterling political work to keep us all flying.

Bent Esbensen
AOPA 1334996
Esbjerg, Denmark

Errata

In “Pilots: Robert Collier Jr.,” July 2018 AOPA Pilot, we incorrectly stated that Collier has private pilot privileges. He is a commercial pilot.

In “Briefing: Aviation History” September 2018 AOPA Pilot, we stated that the first airmail “drop” was in September 1911. Mail was carried on a hot air balloon, the Jupiter, in 1859 by balloonist John Wise. He flew for only for 30 miles before weather forced him to land and put the 146 pieces of mail on a train bound for New York City.

“Budget Buy: Cirrus SR20” incorrectly stated the first-generation SR20 had a Garmin 430W. The model was 430.

AOPA Pilot regrets the errors.